RAISE YOUR GAZE

On May 8, 2025, the conclave elected the American Robert Francis Prevost as pope, who took the name Leo XIV. At 69 years of age, he became the 267th Bishop of Rome and the first pontiff from the Order of Saint Augustine, with a trajectory marked by mission, ecclesial governance, and a clear pastoral vocation.

Born on September 14, 1955, in Chicago, into a family of European origin, Prevost was educated between the United States and Rome. Between 1973 and 1977, he studied at Villanova University (Pennsylvania, United States), where he earned degrees in Mathematics and Philosophy. On September 1, 1977, he entered the Order of Saint Augustine. He made his solemn profession on August 29, 1981, and was ordained a priest at the age of 26 on June 19, 1982, at the Augustinian College in Rome. He specialized in Canon Law. In 1987, he defended his doctoral thesis, “The Role of the Local Prior in the Order of Saint Augustine.”

In 1985, he was sent to Peru, where he lived a decisive period for more than a decade, especially in Chulucanas and Trujillo. There he served as a formator, teacher, and pastor in often humble contexts, an experience that shaped his pastoral style: close, discreet, and sensitive to social issues. As a member of the Augustinian order, his approach to evangelization reflects Saint Augustine’s insight that the human heart finds rest only in God. In 1999, he was elected provincial prior of the Augustinians in Chicago, and in September 2001 he became Prior General of the Order, a position he held until 2013 after being re-elected in 2007. It was during this period that he traveled the world and visited Catalonia twice, stopping in Badalona, where his order has worked in the parish of Sant Roc for decades.

On November 3, 2014, Pope Francis appointed him Apostolic Administrator of Chiclayo (Peru) and Titular Bishop of Sufar; he was ordained bishop on December 12, 2014. On September 26, 2015, he was appointed Bishop of Chiclayo. On January 30, 2023, he was named Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, and on September 30 of the same year he was created cardinal.

The choice of the name Leo XIV offers a key to understanding his pontificate. The new pope aligns himself with the tradition of Leo XIII (pope from 1878 to 1903), promoter of social doctrine through the encyclical Rerum Novarum, and also evokes Leo I the Great, a reference point of doctrinal authority.

In the first months of his pontificate, Leo XIV has outlined three major axes: a pastoral one, focused on proclamation and accompaniment; a social one, with attention to peace, to the vulnerable (with his first major document Dilexi te), to technological challenges, and to persevering in the fight against abuse —with emphasis on prevention and comprehensive reparation—; and an ecclesial one, oriented toward a more synodal Church with prudent governance.